Women wanted: Why now could be a good time for women to pursue a career in AI

For Gunnar, that means getting more women and girls excited about AI from a young age. "We should expose girls to AI, math and science at a much earlier age so they have a support system in place," said Gunnar. Indeed, IBM's report noted that although more women have been drawn to the industry over recent years, they did not consider AI a viable career path until later in life due to a lack of support during early education. A plurality of men (46%) said they became interested in a tech career in high school or earlier, while a majority of women (53%) only considered it a possible path during their undergraduate degree or grad school. But Bouari said she's hopeful that the surge in demand for AI currently can help drive the industry forward.